Desperate Bruins take down Flyers in Saturday matinee

Philadelphia, PA -- David Pastrnak scored the first two goals of his career and simply ran out of time in his quest for his first career hat trick and the desperate Boston Bruins did their usual shut-down job in a 3-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday.

Chris Kelly had the other goal and Tuukka Rask stopped 24 shots for the Bruins, who have won their past three and temporarily moved into a tie for eighth place in the Eastern Conference with the red-hot Rangers and Washington Capitals with their respective outcomes to be decided later in the evening.

Claude Giroux scored the only goal of the game for the Flyers, who had won their previous two beyond regulation to kick off their current four-game residency. 

Steve Mason started, but unlike Tuesday's brief scare, was forced to exit this one seven minutes into the opening period with a right leg injury that will keep him out of action for at least one week. He stopped all five shots he faced while Ray Emery ended up suffering the loss after allowing three goals on 13 shots in relief.

The best news of Saturday came late, as the NHL confirmed the remainder of its roster for the All-Star competition in Columbus on Jan. 24-25. Giroux, along with the team and league-leading scorer Jakub Voracek, will represent the Orange and Black. 

Skating on the power play in the first period, the Bruins took a 1-0 lead on Pastrnak's first career goal. With Jakub Voracek in the box, Zdeno Chara sent a backhand pass from behind the net to the left circle where Torey Krug got off a one-timer. Emery made the stop, but the rebound sat out front and Pastrnak backhanded it in at 11:23.

The middle stanza passed without a goal, but the Bruins padded their advantage at 4:57 of the third as Pastrnak took a feed in the neutral zone and left a drop pass for David Krejci along the right wing. Charging the net, Pastrnak got the puck back from Krejci -- who drew three Flyers checkers in his direction and left the rookie wide open on the left side for an easy wrister and a 2-0 lead.

Philly was skating on a power play when Boston took a 3-0 lead after Loui Eriksson banked the puck off the boards in his own end to create a 2-on-1. Skating down the left wing, the fleet Finnish winger sent the puck to the other side where Kelly beat Emery high to the short-side for his fifth of the season at 9:51.

The Flyers were again on the power play when they finally broke through as Giroux's wrister from the left circle hit off the stick of a Bruin and went past Rask with Wayne Simmonds providing a screen in front and 5:47 showing.

Philadelphia pulled Emery with two minutes to play for an extra skater, but was unable to cut into the deficit.

Enter Pastrnak, who was dangling with the puck in his offensive zone but his successful challenged shot didn't hit the net before the final buzzer sounded. He would have become the first opposing player since the Blues' Vitali Prokhorov on Halloween night, 1992 in St. Louis, to record his first three NHL goals in the same game against the Orange and Black. 

Notes: Pastrnak (18 years, 230 days old) became the eighth 18-year-old in Bruins history to record a multi-goal game  and the first since Patrice Bergeron on Jan. 12, 2004) ... The Flyers announced during the game that Mason will be further evaluated on Sunday ... Philadelphia hosts Tampa Bay on Monday ... Boston hosts Tampa Bay on Tuesday ... The Bruins have won five straight against the Flyers ... Pastrnak was the 25th overall pick of the 2014 draft and was appearing in his seventh game ... Saturday's matinee occurred 28 years to the date of a Flyers' 5-4 win over the Bruins at the old Boston Garden.